Jerdy Schouten’s knee injury has boosted Marten de Roon’s chances of making the World Cup squad this summer. However, Valentijn Driessen isn’t keen on the idea, as he explained on Vandaag Inside.
Schouten suffered a serious knee injury on Saturday during the match between PSV and FC Utrecht (4-3). As a result, he will have to miss out on the World Cup.
This seems to boost De Roon’s chances of joining the Netherlands squad. The 35-year-old midfielder, who plays in the same position as Schouten, was last selected for the Oranje squad in March 2024.
According to Driessen, however, it is not wise to take many older players to the heat of the United States. “We already have five players in their late thirties. And then there’s another one,” he says, referring to De Roon.
“It’s sweltering there. Koeman played there himself in 1994. He was on oxygen too. It was forty degrees there. And Rijkaard was there at the time, and Wouters… None of them could keep up, because it was simply far too hot.”
“And then we’re going there with a bunch of thirty-somethings. Just take Joey Veerman with you. He can play football much better than Marten de Roon, can’t he?” suggests Driessen.
Johan Derksen disagrees with the journalist. “You’re a real Veerman fan, aren’t you? You’re not going to win the war with him, are you? Because he doesn’t defend. If you don’t have the ball, they’ll just run straight through,” says Derksen. Driessen replies: “It’s not that bad, Johan. You need to take a proper look. You hardly watch any Dutch football.”